03-F Water/Sewer (5/15/03) - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council W~er & Sewer Subcommi~ee May15,2003 Page 12 years to meet increasing regulatory responsibilities and to operate a greatly expanded operation with more equipment and more tasks to be performed. He said that, while the duties have greatly expanded in the past ten years, no additional personnel have been added. City Manager Malone advised that the number one reason for having a minimum of two people manning the water production plant each shift is for the health and safety of the public who consumes the water produced and, equally important, to maintain the health and safety of our employees. A secondary reason would be to provide an extra measure of protection for the assets of the water treatment plant to prevent damage to the facility. City Manager Malone advised that on one occasion, when he served on the City Council, the only operator at the water plant fell asleep one night and failed to turn off pumps which compounded the error of leaving the bonnet off of one of the high service pumps being repaired. He said that this flooded the water plant and put the plant out of production for several days. City Manager Malone noted that the electric motors had to be pulled from the pumps and shipped to Fort Worth, Texas, to be dried out at a cost of approximately half a million dollars. He said that fortunately, at the time, the old Camp Maxey water treatment plant could produce some water for the citizens, but industry was curtailed and the situation was expensive for all concerned. There was a lot of lost production in Paris and great danger to the public safety because of this simple error. City Manager Malone said on another occasion, the only operator on duty slipped and fell approximately ten feet off the end of the filter deck and lay unattended for some unknown time before he recovered and resumed his duties. These two actual occurrences, he believed, effectively demonstrate the need for two persons to be on duty at both plants during each shift. City Manager Malone attached additional information to his memorandum. He said that Mr. Campbell is present to discuss in detail why major staff reductions are not advisable.